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For this week’s challenge, you’ll again hear from Teacher William White. He will share a dilemma he faced as an elementary special education teacher providing services in an inclusive elementary school.
Watch the brief video (under 2 minutes)
Now consider ways the general education teacher and William could work together using instructional and/or assistive technology. Remember, there are lots of ways this issue can and should be addressed (that are much larger than adapting materials). But we’d like you to practice thinking creatively this week about what you CAN do immediately, in the moment, to help a child access the learning materials in their classrooms. We’d like you to focus on the readings this week and think about ways elementary math materials can be adapted for learners.
Here are two real 1st grade math assignments to consider:
09_MathActivity1.pdf 09_MathActivity2.pdf
How can you take this math content and make it “come alive” through assistive and/or instructional technologies? How can you adapt the exercise to make it more interesting to the

learner and to better meet the learner’s needs? Or, how could you also consider ways that William’s team could support learning at home by collaborating with the child’s family during remote learning?
Remember, paper and pencil are “technologies”: your ideas do not need to involve computers or expensive solutions. Simply take what you learned this week and apply it to elementary math. Consider this table of strategies that show some ideas for Assistive and Instructional Technology (but you’re not limited to these): 09_PageFromShepleyAT_IT.pdf
Also use the PACER center website and the toolkit listed as readings on the previous page. Consider this a Design Challenge! Have fun!
Step 1: Post one way you would use assistive OR instructional technology to modify the assignment (Math acitivity 1 or 2).
Step 2: Offer “warm” and “cool” feedback on TWO posts. “Warm” feedback is positive and supportive (what you think will work well, be specific). “Cool” feedback are suggestions, ideas, or recommendations (what could be tweaked to make the idea work even better?)